DOWNTOWN SITE SOLD TO DEVELOPER

About 200 affordable housing units will be part of the redevelopment of a parcel of surplus land sold to developers for $36 million near Yonge and Wellesley Sts., the province has announced.

The land just west of Yonge St. includes 26 Grenville St. and 27 Grosvenor St., the former Ontario Chief Coroner’s office and parking deck that was sold to Greenwin Incorporated and Choice Properties REIT.

They plan to build two towers — about 50 storeys to the south and 36 or 37 to the north — with 700 purpose-built rental units, a daycare and retail space.

“That’s $36 million that we will be able to reinvest in the core programs and services,” said Minister of Government and Consumer Services Bill Walker at a Monday morning press conference.

“Construction will begin this fall. Substantial completion is projected for Christmas 2023,” he said.

The parcel that comprises nearly an acre is part of a sell-off of about 243 surplus properties that the province announced in December. It is supposed to raise between $105 million and $135 million over four years and save $9.6 million in operating costs.

The Grenville-Grosvenor redevelopment will save $260,000 a year in operating and maintenance costs, Walker said.

“Far too many people are being pushed out of the city because of the high cost of housing. There are not enough housing options that meet people’s needs. We need more rental housing, housing that is affordable, that meets people’s budgets and it has to be near to the important services they rely on,” said Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark.

He is expected within the next weeks to launch the Progressive Conservative government’s Housing Supply Action Plan to increase the supply and affordability of housing, particularly in the Toronto region.

The government announcement comes the same day that a Ryerson University Centre for Urban Research and Land Development report suggested there are 6,000 surplus government sites that could be redeveloped for housing in Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe.

Those include 180 Toronto parking lots, cited in a study by the Toronto Region Board of Trade; the potential for redeveloping LCBO stores and “underutilized school sites” that “are going untapped,” said a press release accompanying the report.